Chapter 15
It seemed Arthur had a natural instinct for dealing with Sharkrof.
“If something as unlikely as your reunion with Miss Marina could actually happen,” Arthur said, “then it doesn’t seem impossible that an old legend that looks meaningless at first glance could turn out to be an important clue.”
“Is that so?”
Sharkrof fell silent for a moment, as if deep in thought.
“By the way, Mr. Sharkrof, did you see the launching ceremony that day? You said you started wearing a sailor’s uniform after spying on the base. I was wondering if you came that day too.”
“I did. All the land people were gathered there wearing the same clothes I’m wearing now, all white like a flock of seagulls. Now I finally understand what everyone had gathered for.”
Then Sharkrof muttered in a small voice,
“It meant another annoying ship had been added.”
Arthur, apparently not hearing the last remark, asked with a smile,
“Did you come to watch in your shark form?”
“Yeah. I sneaked over and spied from underwater.”
“Why didn’t I notice? I don’t remember seeing any shadow like a shark. I must have been too focused on the ceremony.”
“You wouldn’t have seen me even if you weren’t distracted. My stealth abilities are excellent.”
Sharkrof shrugged proudly.
You were discovered by Phineas, and by Arthur too. If your stealth is so excellent, how were you caught twice?
The thought naturally came to mind, but I swallowed the words. Sharkrof would probably feel hurt.
“I watched everything without being discovered—even the trivial things. I saw that blessing ritual you mentioned too, where they kept hitting the ship with that strange object. The name of it was…”
“Champagne. Have you ever tried it, Mr. Sharkrof?”
“No.”
“Really? Maybe I can let you try it someday. As I mentioned before, I come here often. Perhaps all of us could have a meal together at a nice restaurant. Including Miss Marina.”
Arthur turned to me with a bright smile.
“Oh, that sounds nice. It could be fun.”
I replied with an awkward smile. Had I just accidentally accepted an invitation to dine together?
Arthur turned back to Sharkrof.
“I hope I’ll get to see you often from now on, Mr. Sharkrof. Not just because of my professional interest. I think having a sea person as a friend would be both enjoyable and fascinating.”
“Friends with you? That will never happen.”
Sharkrof cut him off firmly.
“Why not?” Arthur asked, puzzled.
“I hate ships. I don’t think it would be enjoyable at all to be friends with humans who ride them. And besides…”
Sharkrof narrowed his eyes.
“Especially with a rival like you!”
“A rival?”
“Yes.”
Sharkrof nodded with conviction and turned his gaze toward me.
“Miss Marina, you said I was misunderstanding something. But at least one thing I got right. Arthur Skipper is not simply your friend. Maybe you don’t realize it, but Arthur definitely has other intentions.”
“Really? I’m curious why you think that,” Arthur asked with a smile.
“Don’t underestimate me just because I don’t know much about the land world. I’ve asked other sea people and learned a lot. Bringing a bouquet of flowers like you did is clearly a form of courtship on land. No matter what deceptive land people say with their mouths, actions always speak louder than words.”
Sharkrof said this confidently.
“Courtship? That’s a rather unique way of putting it…” Arthur laughed awkwardly.
“But Arthur, did you really say that? That you were giving the flowers to a woman you liked? Normally if someone hears that, they wouldn’t think you were just friends. It’s not that surprising Sharkrof misunderstood.”
“Perhaps it was an easy statement to misunderstand,” Arthur admitted. “I’m not very eloquent with words. I should be more careful with what I say from now on—especially when a sharp-eared shark man might be listening to everything.”
Arthur said this with a playful grin.
Soon he smoothly changed the subject.
Before long, the two of us had drifted into light conversation.
Talking with Arthur after so long made time pass strangely fast, even though the conversation itself wasn’t particularly meaningful.
Sharkrof didn’t seem very pleased to see us laughing together over trivial jokes.
After a while, Arthur stood up, saying that too much time had passed and he didn’t want to disturb the café.
“I should get going.”
“You’re leaving already?” I asked.
“I don’t want to interfere with Miss Marina’s work. But I’ll come again next time. I’d like to visit more often, but time doesn’t always allow it.”
“Are you planning to bring another easily misunderstood bouquet next time?”
“If Miss Marina wants me to, I’m willing to be misunderstood as much as necessary.”
Arthur answered jokingly.
“Anyway, I’d definitely like to come again next time. And…”
“What? You’re coming again?!”
Sharkrof shouted as if he absolutely hated the idea.
“And I was about to say that I hope I can meet you again too, Mr. Sharkrof. But it seems you feel differently.”
“Of course I do. I’d rather never see you again.”
“Couldn’t you be a little generous? Even though I only heard about it today, I’m already fascinated by the stories of the Sea Kingdom and its people.”
Sharkrof awkwardly closed his mouth.
Just moments ago he had seemed ready to drive Arthur away forever.
But Sharkrof was so proud of the Sea Kingdom that he couldn’t bring himself to tell someone who admired it to get lost.
Now he could only stand there, unable to get properly angry.
Arthur might have been better suited to becoming a shark trainer at an aquarium rather than a naval officer.
Arthur spoke again.
“Mr. Sharkrof, you said the Sea Kingdom is more beautiful than the land. I’ve never seen it myself, but somehow I feel like that statement must be true.”
“Oh. Yes. Of course. It’s truly beautiful. But I don’t want to hear something like that from you—”
“I’d love to hear more about the Sea Kingdom next time. Since you’ll be working here, I suppose we’ll have many opportunities to meet again.”
Before Sharkrof could recover from his confusion, Arthur casually said his farewell and left.
Only after Arthur had gone and quite some time had passed did Sharkrof seem to regain his senses.
“People like Miss Marina, the ones I actually want to be interested in the Sea Kingdom, aren’t interested at all. So why is it always those sly, smiling jellyfish-like fellows who get drawn to the sea?”
Sharkrof muttered weakly.
“Jellyfish?” I asked.
“Yes. A spineless, soft attitude—just lazily grinning all the time. A land jellyfish of a human.”
First shrimp, now jellyfish.
It was quite a unique set of metaphors.
These days the café was starting to feel more and more like an aquarium.
Sharkrof clearly had no interest in traditional land expressions.
“I hate real jellyfish in the sea too. So of course I hate land jellyfish even more. Anyway, I hope that guy never comes back.”
Grumbling, Sharkrof went behind the counter.
But what Arthur had said kept lingering in my mind.
Arthur had claimed he wasn’t good with words, but I didn’t agree.
As far as I knew, Arthur wasn’t the kind of person who often made that sort of slip of the tongue.
Flowers for a woman he liked.
Maybe it hadn’t been a mistake at all. Maybe he had meant exactly what he said… and only tried to cover it up because Sharkrof was there.
I told myself not to think about unnecessary things, but I couldn’t stop feeling unsettled.
The next day, Sharkrof entered the café with an extremely gloomy expression.
Even when he saw Phineas inside the shop, he didn’t show his usual irritation.
Instead, he marched straight toward Phineas like a warrior who had been waiting for this moment.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?” Phineas asked, startled.
“A real crisis has appeared. The situation is different from before. I’m desperate now. I might even need your help.”
Sharkrof spoke in a low voice.
“What crisis? Speak clearly.”
“My goal was to learn the mindset of land people so I could court Miss Marina. Then I would win her eternal love and leave for the Sea Kingdom together.”
“I know. You talk about it all the time. So what?”
“Until now I believed there was no time limit on that goal. So I thought it would be better to prepare carefully and steadily rather than rush. But I was wrong. I don’t have time anymore. Because that sneaky land jellyfish named Arthur Skipper has appeared.”
“What the hell is a land jellyfish?”
Phineas was now looking at him like he was crazy.
“Anyway, I can’t afford to lose to that jellyfish. I’ll have to use any means necessary. You’re definitely an annoyingly typical land person, after all. So you must know a lot about how land people court someone—”
Just then, I walked out from behind the kitchen and interrupted.
“Are you talking about that again? I already told you—Arthur and I really aren’t anything.”
